AU begins NCAA tourney play today

A year ago Anderson University entered the NCAA Regionals as an underdog, and its run to the Division II Elite Eight was something of a surprise.

Today, the No. 14 Trojans are dancing again — but it would come as a surprise to few if they are one of the last eight teams standing.

AU (24-5) takes on Columbus State (18-11) today in the Southeast Regional in Montevallo, Ala., with a victory giving Anderson (seeded third) a school record for most wins in a season and extending the 2011-12 campaign for at least one more game.

Nothing short of a championship will be satisfying this time around.

"If we don't win them all the rest of the way then someone is going to hear about it," said Trojans guard Denzail Jones, who averages 17 points per game and earned South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year honors while helping guide his team to a regular season SAC title. "We made the Elite Eight last year, and that was great. This year we want to do it again and take it a step further. We all believe in each other and believe we have the kind of team that can make that happen."

"This has been a really fun year," said Trull, who recently received the nation's top academic honor among men's Division II basketball players. "These guys have been great to be around and we've played some good basketball. Now we have to keep playing good basketball."

Standing in the Trojans' way is the Southeast Regional's sixth seed, which received an at-large bid to the tourney after finishing as runner-up in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament where the Cougars lost to Montevallo in the finals.

Columbus State has three players who average double figures and two more on the brink.

Steve Peterson sets the pace with 15 points per game; Jarmarquis Steverson averages 10.6; and Idell Bell is good for 10.4 points per game.

Darius McKnight and Winford Ivey score 9.7 and 9 points per game, respectively, with Knight snaring just under eight rebounds per contest.

"Their leading scorer, Peterson, is a transfer student who played at Morehead State and hit the game-winner to send them to the NCAA Tournament (in 2009)," AU coach Jason Taylor said. "They have some players who know how to score and know how to make big shots."

Before falling to Montevallo in the PBC Finals Columbus State had won five games in a row — three of them in overtime.

"They're just very talented," Taylor said. "They have three guards that can shoot the ball. That's the special thing about our division — you don't have any 1 vs. 16 matchups. Every team in our region is capable of winning this thing."

Jones just wants to make sure it's his team that does it.

A junior who started his career at Clark Atlanta and made a brief stopover at UAB, Jones has become one of the main cogs in the Anderson machinery. While he'll have one more season to make an even bigger impact as a Trojan, there's no time like the present to shoot for the title.

"We really are like a family here," Jones said. "We've grown closer and closer as teammates and friends and we're always there to lift each other up. We want to win the title for our seniors and do something special for our school. We really don't want to settle for anything short of a championship."